Monday, September 26, 2016

Have you missed me? It has been a while. It has been about 5 months, the longest break I have taken from blogging. Most of my ramblings are now on Instagram, of course. But I thought it was time to return here, share some news and thoughts, and get us all ready to celebrate something special.

Since writing here, we opened Telkwa General Store & Cafe. We opened in July and haven't stopped to take a breath since! We are so grateful for the positive response and support from our community and customers. We have so many ideas and good things to share and we are thrilled to have our new location for all of this.

October marks the 6th anniversary of Kimberley's Kitchen and we are going to celebrate! Be sure to visit us on Instagram for all of the fun- that is where we will announce the celebration fun we will be having!

Finally, I have decided to put this blog on pause. All content will still be here but I will be blogging on a new domain very soon so be sure to like us on Facebook or follow on Instagram to find out more.

And I obviously can't end this post without thanking all of you. Because of you Kimberley's Kitchen is still humming along, crafting artisan confections and baked goods for customers across Canada after 6 years! Thank you so much!

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

As I have been writing about entrepreneurship, I have been receiving great comments and questions about life as an entrepreneur. I have shared a little about why I chose this and how I shape my workday, but I want to start diving in to what I believe is the most important part of the discussion around entrepreneurship.

When I made the risky choice of being self-employed, I did it because I felt that it was the only way I could do what I am meant to do. A purpose, a calling, a talent, whatever it is to you, we all have it. We all have one thing (which may include many parts) that we are meant to do. At least, this is what I believe. I felt that this path was the only way I could truly pursue my life's work and fulfill my destiny.

I also know that everything up until this point has been a part of it. I haven't take a radical leap and dismissed my past experiences and choices. In fact, my past brought me to this moment where I get to live this life now. I was on the path all along.

When I talk to people about pursuing a passion or talent, I like to talk about doing YOUR BEST WORK. This sums up, for me, what a vocation can be. Our lives are about more than work and work isn't everything in life. I also like to think about being the best parent I can be. We are not just our work. But we still want to do our best work.

YOUR BEST WORK can be defined as work which utilizes your skills and talents, enriches you personally, and allows you the room to be challenged, to grow, to evolve, and to be better. Your Best Work is not a static target, but rather, it is an ever-evolving state of you achieving your potential most of the time. It is not a place we can Get To. We are either in it or not. We can make choices to be in it or not. We can do our BEST WORK anywhere at anytime if we want.

It took me many years to learn this.

This isn't about changing careers, although it could be. This isn't about radical life-shifting changes, although it could be that too. It IS about shifting your perspective and focusing on what you are meant to do and how you can make that true today.

YOUR BEST WORK can happen today. It can be something you make possible tomorrow. It is about examining your true self, knowing your purpose, aligning your life, and making choices that allow you to serve your purpose today and everyday.

So, how do we do that? This is big work and I am excited to share with you everything I have learned in my twenty plus years of business, my years of entrepreneurship and motherhood, and my insights since I discovered how to Love My Work.

Over the next few months I will be launching a new project which will allow us to connect and share and hopefully allow you to love your work and do you best work every day.

Be sure to stay connected by signing up for our newsletter and you will be the first to know of these exciting projects!

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Entrepreneurship isn't all pitches and parties. It can be, sometimes, and that is fun. But the truth is, entrepreneurship requires a commitment to do ALL the jobs at some point. Or at least know all the jobs, be able to train others for all the jobs, hire people for all the jobs, and most importantly, respect all the jobs.

I was discussing the reality of the small food industry with a colleague the other day and I pointed out that not only do entrepreneurs work long, crazy hours, but they need to be able to take out the garbage. When you're starting out, there's a good chance it is a one or two person operation. You have an idea, you work on it while maintaining another form of income, you have a life and a house and kids and whatever else, AND you need to be responsible for the ugly, dirty jobs like garbage.

Some food business owners keep their operation small and they juggle most of the work themselves. Some have plans to grow and expand and eventually hire people for various jobs. Either is good and in fact, I believe both models are essential to our local economy.

Kimberley's Kitchen is somewhere in the middle. I started out with me and my husband doing most of it, with help from family and friends. Then we expanded to hire seasonal staff and now have a regular staff compliment and outsource other business activities. Our experience in the restaurant and food-service industry taught us that we need to be willing to do all the jobs, even the garbage.

I believe it is really important to see all the work/jobs of our business as essential. Garbage is actually necessary and of course of vital importance to healthy and safety. So why does our culture look down on people who have this in their job description?

My husband and I now divide our workload based on what we are good at, what we love to do, and what we can employ others to do. And we don't just lead by example by doing things like dishes and delivery and recycling, we know that these parts of the work are as vital as marketing and sales and cooking. We are teaching our kids the business too and like many restaurants, they are starting with dishes. It is actually one of the most important jobs to opening your business every day. Without dishes, how can you run a kitchen?

We don't believe we are "above" taking out the garbage or any of the other dirty jobs. We feel immense gratitude to have customers to cook for and serve every day. We also feel tremendous responsibility for our impact on nature and our community. By literally taking out the garbage, we have learned what we are throwing out, what is being wasted, and this started us thinking about what we could do about it.

This year, Kimberley's Kitchen and Telkwa Takeout are embarking on a mission to be ZERO FOOD WASTE businesses. This is incredibly challenging and we are very motivated to reduce our impact and find a way to reduce food waste as well. We will be sharing some of our ideas and strategies and we hope to hear from you about what you would like to see. We have been working on this for about 6 months and we are excited about the progress we are making. We have also discovered some much-needed products that would make this possible for other food businesses. (Our recycling and composting has been a part of what we do since day one. As well as other initiatives with packaging and food waste).

So if we never took out the garbage, we may never have made the connection about how we can run our business smarter and better. We may never have sought options to reduce food waste, thus saving us money. We may never have realized that in reducing waste, there was an opportunity to be a more sustainable company that we can be proud of. Taking out the garbage has taught us a lot about business and what kind of company we want to be. We will never consider ourselves above this kind of work.

Welcome to my Blog!

I am Kimberley Allan Mulla, Owner & Confectioner of Kimberley's Kitchen. This is my blog where I share recipes, healthy living inspiration, and life as an entrepreneur. Thanks for visiting and be sure to connect with me over on Instagram!

Connect with Kimberley

Our NEW Restaurant!

Welcome to Kimberley's Kitchen

We believe that sweet treats are a healthy part of life and so we endeavour to craft delightful confections and fine foods with local, organic, and whole ingredients for you.

Made in Northern BC, Kimberley's Kitchen uses real ingredients such as organic vanilla beans, fair trade organic cocoa and coffee, and local fruit, whipping it into handcrafted marshmallow and delightful treats. We never use artificial colours, extracts or synthetic flavors.

Visit us on Instagram for more inspiration, behind-the-scenes of our business and life, and a sneak peek of what is to come!